


Happy Accident

by BlondeFromHell



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Underswap (Undertale), Author Is Sleep Deprived, Author wants to hug the tired skeleton, Cuddles, F/M, Fluff, Magic, Mild Swearing, Multi, Reader Is Not Chara (Undertale), Reader Is Not Frisk (Undertale), Reader has a SOUL of integrity, Reader is artist, Reader is college student, Reader-Insert, Second person POV, Slow Burn, Underswap Papyrus (Undertale), Undertale Monsters on the Surface, reader has allergies, reader is female
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-18 06:07:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28738506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlondeFromHell/pseuds/BlondeFromHell
Summary: You're an average college art student trying to survive your spring semester with raging allergies. On top of finals coming up, having to prepare for fall semester, and needing a job over spring and summer break, Monsters, who were once trapped below ground, now live on the surface.One day, you're on a walk after class and are heading back to your dorm when you smell something familiar. A flower you didn't know grew in the area. You follow the scent and what you find is beyond your expectations. You find a small clearing with a large oak surrounded by honeysuckles. Your breath is taken away.Also... WHY IS THERE A  SLEEPING SKELETON!?
Relationships: Papyrus (Undertale) & Reader, Papyrus (Undertale)/Reader
Comments: 7
Kudos: 33





	1. Flowers and Monsters

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome! I'm Blonde and I'll keep this short. This is my first post on AO3, but it isn't the first fanfic or reader-insert I've written. I have posted the first 8 or so chapters on DeviantART, under the same name.
> 
> Anyway, I hope ya'll enjoy the story! More chapters to come! This is my first slow burn and I have no idea what I'm doing!
> 
> ALSO! This will be a bit canon-divergent from how most people see Underswap.

Spring, the season of color, warmth, and the regrowth of life that died during Fall and Winter. All sorts of flowers bloomed during those few months of Spring, such as tulips, cherry blossom trees, daffodils, roses, and so much more. Despite all of those beautiful flowers blooming with such vibrant colors, many people were trapped inside because of one common issue.

Allergies. Star damned allergies.

You are among those unfortunate humans, forever cursed. With allergies.

For as long as you could remember, you have had allergies so bad that you usually had to stay inside. That was as true as it was back then as it is now. You already had to be inside for your college classes, which lasted long hours every other day (mon/wed/fri). During spring, it is almost a death sentence to be outside even when class are not going on, and you aren’t even allergic to the tree pollen or flower pollen! You were allergic to a weed for crying out loud, not the wonderful flowers.

That demonic plant is called ragweed, which is a spindly plant that looks kind of like goldenrod, but it’s ugly. Really, it is such a common cause to allergies, too, and it just happens to grow in ARMIES at your campus. So, here you are, a sneezing mess that is forced to wear a flu mask to lessen the amount of pollen you inhale and sneeze out. Back in your home town, ragweed didn’t grow all that much, so you were able to get away with not wearing a flu mask unless you had the flu, but now is not the time to be cursing ragweed just for existing, you have to get to class.

You rush past several other students and professors as you make your way towards your next class from your dorm. Sadly, for you, you slept later than usual because of your allergy medicine, so now you are about to be late to your art class. Your teacher is very understanding, but it is so embarrassing to burst into the room while class is going on.

You have to slow to a walk as your breath heaves from your chest as a result of poor stamina and puffs your flu mask out slightly. A small family, with obviously obnoxious teens, walk by you and those bratty teens laugh hysterically at your rugged appearance and suffering. The halfhearted shushing from the parents/guardians did nothing to silence the children, so you simply ignore them and continue on your way. 

Though, if you had time, you totally would have flipped the brats off.

As you walk over the campus bridge a monster couple glances at you in alarm, probably frightened by how red your face is. 

Oh, yeah, monsters are a thing now. 

Apparently, they have been trapped beneath Mount Ebott for who knows how long. They got to the surface about seven months ago. You think that was around August, since it is now April. 

It’s hard to imagine that there was a civilization of monsters beneath a mountain that was just twenty miles north of your college. You heard that some human child, that had fallen underground, freed the monsters. The child, Chara, is now seen as the monster ambassador and is supported by the queen of monster-kind, Queen Toriel. If you remember correctly from what your ghost friend told you, Queen Toriel lives in Ebott city, ten miles north of your campus. Most monsters stay near the mountain, but there have been plenty who have moved elsewhere, like Mettaton, your friend.

Mettaton looks like a pink ghost and is super nice. You clicked with them immediately and became best friends with the ghost after bombarding them with a billion questions about monsters. They told you that monsters come in all sorts of different sizes, shapes, colors, etc. Monsters kind of remind you of the interesting and different flowers around in spring. So far, you have met only a few monsters, but you can already tell that they are each vastly different and are usually kind, even if a human is being a jerk to them. You are proud to say that you actually chased away a 17-year-old boy from harassing Mettaton before the two of you became friends. The boy was bullying them, and you “accidentally” bumped into him and caused him to fall into the fountain back in the colder months of autumn.

The memory makes you chuckle, and you take a short break from walking and glance over to the pond that borders the campus library, which is open to the public. Though that is just the college and the small town that is about five miles away.

You thought monsters were incredible, but you are too nervous to approach them. Unless you… you know… shove a kid into a frozen fountain, like what you did for Mettaton. The kid even tried to punch you! If Mettaton hadn’t helped you out by using magic, you’d have a huge bruise. 

That’s another amazing thing about monsters! They have MAGIC! You think it is so cool, and when you found out that all monsters can do magic, you nearly lost it at how cool you thought it is. After that, you and Mettaton exchanged emails and cell numbers and continue to hang out. They are your best friend!

With an abrupt sneeze, your thoughts return to the current time and place and you immediately panic and scream, startling other students. Ignoring their confused expressions, you charge past the library and into the building next to it. As soon as you burst into the art building, you felt your phone vibrate, signaling that class began.

Several students and professors watch as you bolt around corners and up the stairs to the third floor, where your class is being held. As you run, you pray to the stars that your professor is not in the room just yet.

You soon find your classroom and run into the open door to find that your professor is, in fact, not in the room. For a brief second, you thank the stars! But your worst fears are answered when you heard your professor’s deep baritone behind you.

“Good to have you in class, Ms. (y/n) ,” Professor Glassman says with a chuckle as he motions for you to sit down. He is a professional artist who is admired by many of the female students on your campus. He is handsome, with tanned skin, bright blue eyes, and thick black hair. You personally could care less about what anyone looks like, you care about what is on the inside. You respect Glassman because he is fighting for the rights of monsters and is using his art to support that idea.

Feeling your cheeks heat up further from both exhaustion and embarrassment, you make your way over to your seat. As you sit down, you lower your eyes to your desk as hushed laughter from your ruder classmates reach your ears, but it does not last long as your professor starts his lesson.

(le time skip)

Five minutes before class ends, you feel someone poke your right shoulder and glance over to see your friend grinning at you like an idiot. Blake, with sandy blonde hair, pale white skin, dark brown eyes, and a slim build, slides a note over to you, still smiling that classic face-splitting grin which only means he wanted something from you.

You look down at the note and frown. The note is just a dumb smiley face with a heart. As soon as Glassman ends class, you look at Blake and hold up the note. 

“What is this?” You deadpan behind your flu mask, your eyes betraying your suspicion.

“What? I was simply wondering if you wanted to go to the park with me?” Blake says and shrugs, still grinning.

“No,” You groan and start packing up your notes and supplies, “not unless you tell me what you actually want.”

With a dramatic gasp, Blake places his hand on his chest, “(Y/n), I thought you knew me better than that!” When his jesting did not amuse you, Blake relents and looks away from you with a blush. “Alright, fine. There’s this new sweet’s shop with a girl working there. I need your help.”

“Seriously? Why not go by yourself?” You say with a raised eyebrow and sling your bag over your shoulder. “Wouldn’t it leave the wrong impression if you take a girl to a shop to flirt with another girl?”

“Dude, no,” Blake throws up his hands and shook his head back and forth in exasperation. “It’s a sweet’s shop and we both know how much I hate sweets.”

You hum at this and walk out of the class with Blake hot on your heels. The both of you start walking down the stairs (those blasted stairs) before you finally nod. 

“Alright, I’ll go, but only if you buy me something from there.” You relent and glance at your flirtatious friend, who is already vibrating with excitement, “So, what’s the excuse this time?”

“YES! YOU ARE THE BEST WING-WOMAN A GUY COULD ASK FOR!” Blake yell and runs down the rest of the stairs with his insane amount of energy. As soon as he hits the bottom, he spins around to wait for you to reach him before he explains his plan.

With a clap of his hands, Blake excitedly says, “Alright, so here’s the plan! You love sweets, which is true, but you had no way of getting to the shop from where you live on campus, which is somewhat true with all the pollen! SO! I offered to take you there and that’s it!”

In Blake’s excitement, he grabs both of your shoulders and shakes you slightly.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,” You laugh behind the flu mask and raise both of your hands, “Most of that is true and not fabricated like every other girl you wanted me to help you flirt with. Are you really that attracted to this girl?”

“Well, yeah,” Blake says and looks to the ground, a blush tinting his cheeks. The sight makes you chuckle.

“Then let’s head over there right now,” You say and shrug before a violent sneeze tore through your body. Hopefully, your body will be able to hold out for the next couple of hours.

Blake nods and muffles a laugh as yet another sneeze shakes your body. After a short walk, the two of you leave the building and head to the sweet’s shop, chatting to your hearts content. By the time you reach the shop, your stomach is growling slightly, so you are excited eat some tasty treats! You and Blake are greeted by a girl with NEON green hair (the hair is so bright you think it’s glowing?) and big grey eyes, who you assume is the girl Blake is crushing on based on how he brightens up when he sees her. While Blake chats with the green-haired girl, you take your sweet (heh) time browsing the store front, before you make your choice. Once you get your sugary treat, you leave the shop with Blake with the girl’s phone number and the goofiest grin you’ve ever seen.

“Score!” Blake fist-pumps once the two of you are in the park and on the path back to campus, “Thanks a bunch, (Y/n). You’re the best wing-woman, as always.”

“Mmm-hmm,” You hum in acknowledgement as you finished off the heavenly treat, with your flu mask pushed down to your neck. After that, the both of you went your separate ways. You are marching your way back to your pollen-free dorm when a familiar scent catches your attention.

Faintly recognizing the scent, you turn down a dirt path that branches off the concrete sidewalk and walk further into the forest near your campus. As you make your way down the soft path, the sounds of the college and the small town die down and are replaced with the songs of birds and the whistle of the wind through leaves and grass. You are intent on finding the source of the scent, but what you find is beyond your expectations.

In the small clearing in front of you, a skeleton in an orange hoodie and brown cargo shorts is leaning against a large oak tree, which is covered in honeysuckle vines. The skeleton appears to be sleeping, considering their eye sockets are closed and their chest is rising and falling steadily. You stare, in awe of the sleeping monster when a gentle breeze rustles the leaves and grass of the area and carries the warm scent of the honeysuckle to you. The soft shadows and various shades of orange, white, and yellow flowers dance across the ivory bone of the orange clad skeleton.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cliff hangers, am I right? (- v -)/
> 
> I hope you enjoyed chapter 1! Stay tuned for chapter 2!
> 
> PS. I write a lot and am working on another Underswap fanfic, let me know if you're interested!


	2. Honeysuckle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Imma post the first three chapters today, but I'm gonna space out the pre-written chapters so that I don't catch up myself yet ^_^"
> 
> Enjoy!

In the small clearing in front of you, a skeleton in an orange hoodie and brown cargo shorts is leaning against a large oak tree, which is covered in honeysuckle vines. The skeleton appears to be sleeping, considering their eye sockets are closed and their chest is rising and falling steadily. You stare, in awe of the sleeping monster when a gentle breeze rustles the leaves and grass of the area and carries the warm scent of the honeysuckle to you. The soft shadows and various shades of orange, white, and yellow flowers dance across the ivory bone of the orange clad skeleton.

The image almost takes your breath away, and you wish it did when you feel the familiar itch in the back of your throat and nose. A sneeze is coming, and you are more than certain that your normally loud scream of a sneeze will wake the sleeping monster up. As soon as you try to pull your flu back onto your face to muffle the sneeze, it bursts from your chest.

A loud cry rings through the otherwise silent forest clearing. Your eyes snap close on instinct, so the moment you open your eyes again, you can only see your (f/c) sneakers as they sink slightly into the brown earth and patches of green grass. You feel your face heat up, to the point you can feel your ears burning. Mortification and embarrassment immediately fill your entire body as you slowly lift your (e/c) eyes towards the skeleton.

‘Oh stars… oh please… please don’t be awake!’ you desperately think as your eyes find the red sneakers of the skeleton and follow their legs up to their eye sockets.

The luck of the Irish is not with you today. Or ever.

Especially during Spring.

Your (e/c) eyes meet the open sockets of the skeleton, who stare at you long and hard. The sudden attention to you fills you with further embarrassment and you feel your face heat up even more. If that is even possible. By now, you knew you look like a tomato ready for picking. Your expression seems to amuse the skeleton, though, because you see a (somehow) slight quirk of the corner of the skeleton’s mouth, but their sockets seem to peer right into your SOUL.

It sure as heck feels like the monster was looking right at your SOUL and they might have been. Mettaton told you about how monsters can CHECK the SOUL of another living being. The ghost explained to you that a SOUL was the core of a person’s or monster’s being. By CHECKING the SOUL, a monster (or special human) can see what Mettaton called STATS. You remember asking Mettaton what your SOUL looks like and what your STATS are, and they agreed to check your STATS, but a SOUL is a private matter. Your dear friend warned you that CHECKs feels like someone is looking straight into your very core, which it virtually is.

You remember that that was first time you felt a monster CHECK you and it can be alarming. This has the very same feeling, a clear indication that this skeleton monster is not looking at you exactly, but at your core, your STATS.

What must have been thirty seconds, which feels like an eternity, passes before you see the skeleton monster visibly relax. Their black eye sockets still seem to watch you with suspicion, however.

‘I… guess they found whatever they were looking for…’ you think and feel your hands twitch with nervousness. ‘Mettaton did say that my STATS indicated I am a relatively harmless person, whatever that means…’

Another eternity crawls by before either of you do or say anything. The orange clad monster just sits against the tree, staring at you with a raised brow bone (is that even possible? They’re a skeleton? How… I’ll just blame magic…), as if they were waiting for you to speak or do something first.

“I…” You finally manage to find your voice and look to the ground, bowing your head slightly. “I am s-so sorry.”

After the words leave your throat, silence once again wakes rein over the forest clearing, other than the occasional sound of nature. You thin for a brief second that the skeleton may not have heard you, so you are about to repeat yourself when a deep chuckle fills your ears. You bring your eyes back up to the monster to see him (with such a deep voice, they had to be male, you think) almost grinning at your embarrassment.

“heh heh,” comes from the skeleton when he sees you staring at him again, “just wanted t’ say that that was one way t’ wake up a guy. YEW alright there, BUDdy?”

“Huh? Oh, I-“ You are confused at why he is asking you if you were okay, since you are the one that startled him, but then it hits you. The way he said ‘buddy’ and ‘you’… it sounded… No. 

“Wait a second, did you just make a pun?” You ask him.

All you got in response is a lazy grin and a shrug from the skeleton. Again, you have no idea how a skull can such expressions, so you decide to continue to blame magic until your logical brain screams at you to investigate. And it already led to some trouble with Mettaton – thank the stars they’re so understanding and patient.

“surprised you caught on to it, hope it was OAKay,” Skeledude says (that’s his nickname for now, you decide) with a wink of his left eye socket. “of course, some of my puns have been known to over-ELM humans.”

You sigh with a slight chuckle at how silly skeledude’s tree-related puns are, but you appreciate the small talk. It helps cool down the heat in your cheeks and ears. “That’s funny, though I have to admit that you caught me of guard with th-!”

A new sneeze shakes your body and rings out through the small clearing, effectively interrupting your sentence. Your eyes water as they snap close once again from the forceful sneeze.

After the short aftershock of the natural bodily reflex to allergens, you look back up to the skeleton to see him shaking with the effort to not laugh at your distress. You wipe a tear from your eye and pull your flu mask up and over your nose once again as skeledude bursts into laughter.

“oh man, is that what a sneeze is like? funniest thing i've seen in a while,” the skeleton laughs out, his face now tinted a slight orange. Another thing you have no idea about and had to blame magic on. His deep laughter causes your face to heat up again in embarrassment before he speaks again. “honestly, though, i doubt this is th’ best place t’ be for ya, if ya have allergies.”

“Bah, it’s fine,” You groan and readjust your flu mask to be more comfortable. “I’m not allergic to the flowers, just a blasted weed that grows everywhere near my campus.”

You look over to one of the many honeysuckles and smile beneath your mask, the heat in your face cooling once more. Because you are focused on the vine flowers, you don’t notice the skeleton’s gaze harden, analyzing your every move.

“so,” the deep voice of the skeleton brings you back to reality and you turn your head toward him, flipping your (h/l) (h/c) hair. “why’s a human like you out here?”

Before you could answer, you swear you see a brief flash of orange in the skeleton’s right eye socket, but it is gone as soon as you see it. For some reason, your heart (or maybe your SOUL) told you that isn’t your imagination, but your brain said otherwise. You shake the image from your mind and tilt your head to the side and point at the flowers.

“I caught the scent of these honeysuckle on my way to my dorm and followed it,” You explain with a shrug of your own and once again turn your gaze to the colorful flowers.

“honeysuckle? is that what it’s called,” skeledude mutters, barely loud enough for you to hear, and looks around at the flowers with such a gentle and thoughtful expression before his hard, suspicious gaze turns on you once more.

You nod, “They’re called that because of the sweet, honey-like nectar inside of them. Children would sometimes pick honeysuckle just to drink the nectar of the flower because it tasted so sweet.”

A flash of a distant, childhood memory brings a sense of nostalgia to you as you gaze around the clearing. You remember a time you and your friends would find honeysuckles and drink their nectar and pretend to be pirates or something and the flowers were the fountain of youth. You chuckle briefly and turn back to the watchful skeleton, your gaze softer than before.

“I’ve grown fond of the scent of them, though,” You say with a gentle smile beneath your flu mask. You doubt skeledude can see your smile, but he certainly sees your eyes soften.

“huh,” skeledude says before he looks away from you and at a nearby flower and gently flick its petals. Without bringing his gaze back to you, he says, “th’ name’s papyrus, by the way. papyrus the skeleton.” He holds his hand up towards you and looks at you with that hard gaze, but it looks slightly softer than before.

The sudden introduction catches you by surprise, but you quickly grasp the skeleton’s- wrong, Papyrus’ hand. “I’m (Y/n) Rhodes, it’s nice to meet you, Papyrus.”

Before you can react, you feel your body jerk towards the forest floor as Papyrus uses your hand to pull himself up and onto his feet. Now that he is standing, albeit slouched (that can’t be good for his spine, you think), you can see that Papyrus stands at least a good six feet to seven feet tall. That means he is literally looming over you (with you being around 5’3”) with a lazy smile that reveals nothing about his inner thoughts. At least, that’s what your brain should be focusing on, but instead your thoughts wander to how oddly warm and smooth Papyrus’ hand is, how big it seems to your small fleshy hand, and how your fingers are almost intertwined with his phalanges. Your flesh bag of a hand fits perfectly in his, but before you could analyze the skeleton’s hand further, he pulls away from you with a deep chuckle.

“thanks for the lift, buddy,” Papyrus says and shoves his hand back into the large orange hoodie pouch. He then walks around you and waves his other hand, “later.”

“Oh, uh, yeah,” You mutter, confused on what just happened exactly. “Bye…”

As soon as the word leaves your lips, Papyrus walks out of the clearing and disappears behind the trees down the path you came from. You stand there for a good few minutes while staring at your still warm hand. And for some BLASTED reason, you can feel your face warm up again and your heart was beating a bit faster than before (you blamed allergies). You have no idea what is going on and nor do you want to find out. So, you lower you hand to your side with a sigh. You glance around at the clearing and sigh once again, your flu mask puffing out from the air.

“Guess I better head back to my dorm,” you mutter finally and make your way out of the forest and back onto the concrete pathway that leads to your college campus. Your day went from being late to class and getting laughed at, to being a classic wing-woman for Blake, to finding a skeleton wearing a HOODIE in 80-degree weather. Lucky for you, you’re used to weird days by now. For now, though, you will go back to your pollen free dorm room and work on that sculpture for your art class.


	3. Rainstorms and Umbrellas

You glare at Blake as he goes on and on about the green haired girl you helped him flirt with at the new sweets shop near campus. He blabbers on as Mettaton, who came over to talk with you in your dorm, sits/hovers next to you, awkwardly glancing at you now and then. At some point, both you and Mettaton exchange a glance, as if wishing someone will save you both from Blake’s consistent chatter. All he seems to be interested in is talking about how he and the sweets shop girl are now dating, how cute she is, how nice she is, how their first date went, and blah blah blah. 

You just want to chill on your short holiday break from classes and chat with Mettaton. Not hear about Blake’s girlfriend.

You do, however, understand what Blake is saying. He can’t get the girl out of his head, even though they are now dating, and you found your thoughts wandering back to a week ago when Blake took you to that sweet’s shop. A week ago, after you and Blake parted ways, you came across the skeleton monster, Papyrus, and to this day, he still plagues your thoughts. First off, you really want to know why the heck skeledude (yup, you’re keeping that) was sleeping in the forest. Secondly, how can skeletons sleep and blink and-

You immediately cut your thoughts off from that train and carefully, as to not disturb the rambling man, place your right elbow on your knee and lean your cheek against your hand. You decided a while back, after meeting Mettaton, that it was best to simply blame everything you did not understand about monsters on magic. Speaking of which, the reason Mettaton came over was to tell you about a part-time job opportunity, since you mentioned you need a part-time job to help pay for food and art supplies, but you were both interrupted when Blake barged into your room. And that brings you to your current situation of listening to Blake.

Just as you tune back into what Blake is saying, you note he is about to start yet another long story, as he taps your leg. That’s when you decide to stop his rampage.

“Blake,” You say in the most earnest voice you can muster and lean back against the wall next to your bed, “Why exactly did you come here other than to tell me about your new girlfriend?”

“Oh, right!” Blake yelps, as if he was electrocuted by the reminder, and jumps off of your bed and points triumphantly at you, “I finally convinced a buddy of mine to join me for a movie night at my house in town and she asked if she could bring a friend along. So! I told her I’d bring some of my friends too, then it’d be like a real movie night party!”

You feel your left eyebrow twitch slightly and shake your head. “So, let me get this straight, the reason you barged in here and started telling me about that girl-“

“Phoebe,” Blake adds.

“Phoebe, is because you wanted to tell me that you invited her and -let me guess- she said yes. Then you decided to invite me?”

“And Mettaton!” Blake says and glances over to the pink ghost, who shyly hides behind you. “If you want to, that is, Mettaton.”

“Ooooooh… uh… sure, why not?” Mettaton says and glances at you, a question in their… eye-things? They don’t really have eyes… Blame the magic.

With a heavy sigh, you smile and sit forward again to nudge Mettaton, “Alright, then. We’re coming,” You say and run a hand through your (h/c) hair. “When is this party and what do you want us to bring?”

“WOO!” Blake yells triumphantly and throws his fists into the air, but then he turns (slightly) serious. “It’ll be at my house tonight (you already have my address, (y/n)) and both of you need to bring your favorite movie, snacks, drink -no alcohol, my baby sister will be there-, and a pillow. Just in case this turns into a sleepover.”

Both you and Mettaton nod, and then your ghostly friend asks, “Would… it be okay… i-if I bring a movie from the underground?”

“Yeah, of course! Bring any movie you want, but only one,” Blake says and scratches his blonde head. “I want to make it fair for everyone to get to watch each of our movies.”

“Sounds good,” you say and hop off your bed before shoving Blake towards the door. “Anyway, get out. Now that you’ve delivered your message and got what you came for, you best head out and get your house ready for tonight.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Blake laughs and opens your door, but gives you a thumbs up with the dorkiest grin ever, which infects you and you find yourself grinning back. “See ya tonight!”

You wave Blake off and once your door is closed again, you turn back to Mettaton, who is smiling excitedly. “Anyway, Met, what’s this job you were telling me about?”

“Right!” Mettaton says excitedly, being much more confident with just you in the room. “I work at this maid café and we’re in need of another maid! Sooooooo~, I was wondering if you’d like the job!?”

“A… maid café…” You repeat slowly as you feel your left eye twitch again. You never had an interest in maid-anything, but you seriously need the money. Break was coming up, which is a perfect time to get more money… but a maid café… With a heavy sigh, you nod. “Alright, when’s the interview?”

“Whenever!” Mettaton says excitedly and hugs you as best as they can. “This will be so much fun!”

You laugh slightly and walk over to your bookcase and crouch down to your movies. “What movie should I bring?”

“Well, I plan on bringing Nabstablook’s Musical Adventure,” Mettaton says with a sigh. You remember them telling you about their cousin Nabstablook, who turns out to be a famous DJ and actor. Apparently, he’s been too busy with work to visit, but they chat over the phone every day.

“That sounds good,” You hum, pulling out (fav movie) and hold it up. “How about this?”

“OH! That looks good!” Mettaton says excitedly before looking outside, “Oh no, it looks like it’s gonna rain.”

You place the movie on your dresser and look outside and shrug, “Good, that means the pollen will be squashed and I won’t be sneezing like a maniac.”

Mettaton giggles and floats up and towards your door, “Well… I best be heading out and home. Gotta get ready for tonight, right?”

“Right!” You say and wave as Mettaton fazes through your door and disappears. Once your friend was gone, you look down at the ground, then to your computer and sigh. “A maid café of all jobs… I guess it couldn’t hurt…”

With that, you start collecting what you need for the party and shove your stuff into one of your pillowcases with your pillow.

‘Movie, chips, chocolate, dried fruit (why not?), water bottle, and a pillow.’ You list each item and nod, but the pitter-patter of rain hitting your window draws your attention. ‘Gotta bring my umbrella, might as well stop by the store on my way there and buy some more drinks for the others. Wonder how many people will be there?’

You pick up the pillow and items and dump everything out. You think it will be best to use your suitcase, then you won’t have to worry about your stuff getting wet. Once everything is in your suitcase, you grabbed your phone and wallet and lock your room up.

(le time skip)

“That will be fifteen dollars and forty-three cents, ma’am,” The cashier says, and you hand him the money. You grab the sack with the drinks (ranging from ice coffee, sweet tea, water, and soda) and go back outside. By the time you got to the supermarket, it was downright pouring cats and dogs, and you are not looking forward to going back out there, despite your earlier proclamation of rain being good. You just didn’t think it would get this bad.

As you walk down the road, pulling your suitcase with your stuff and the drinks in it, behind you, you notice a somewhat familiar orange color ahead of you. Why go you recognize that color orange? And that skull…

Skull…? A skeleton?

“What?” You mutter and stare at the drenched figure of the animated (as in alive and moving) skeleton. He is soaked to the bone… heh…

Ugh, puns… There was time for them, but this is not that time.

Papyrus seems to hear your comment and is now staring at you as water drips down his skull. Your (e/c) eyes meet the skeleton’s eye sockets and the two of you just stand there, him under a store cover (which barely protects him from the rain) and you under your umbrella (which keeps the water off of you almost completely). After a few moments, you hear that familiar deep chuckle from the forest and the image of honeysuckles dances around your vision.

“heh, hey there,” Papyrus says and trots up to you. Once he is near you, he leans down and goes under your umbrella. He moves closer to you and gives a rather smug grin as he says, “perfect timing, mind helping a guy out? i forgot to grab my umbrella before i left.”

You lean back slightly and feel the skeleton’s hand brush against yours as he takes your umbrella and moves closer once again. 

“Oh, uh… sure?” You mutter and watch as Papyrus raises the umbrella high enough for him and starts walking with you following close enough, so your suitcase doesn’t get too wet. Papyrus walks alongside of you but make sure that the (your) umbrella is covering both of you.

After a minute of walking in silence, which is simply you collecting your thoughts, you look up at the orange clad skeleton and ask, “Where… uh… where are you headed, Papyrus?”

“you remember my name? thanks,” Papyrus chuckles, but it did not sound genuine to you, it sounded almost forced… “anyway, i’m headed for the house of a buddy’s buddy. what about you?”

‘There’s no way I’d forget a name like that or an animated skeleton…’ You think and smile up at the taller being. “That’s cool, I’m also headed for a friend’s house for a movie night.”

That seems to pique Papyrus’ interest and he looks down at you completely with a raised brow-bone(thing). “huh, what the coincidence…” he mutters so quietly that you almost don’t hear him over the rain, which drums on the umbrella.

After that, neither of you say much of anything and continue walking (you following him more than anything), until you recognize the scenery around you.

‘Huh? Wait… isn’t this the way to… Blake’s house?’ You think in confusion and glance at Papyrus from the corner of your eye and notice him focusing on the road ahead of you. The same road that leads to Blake’s house… What in the heck?

Instead of saying anything about it, you continue to walk beside the skeleton, nervous about where he is leading you. Many thoughts rush through your head, mainly along the lines of the party and if Papyrus is heading there as well.

Soon enough, your thoughts are answered when a familiar voice calls out to not just you, but the skeleton as well. You look ahead of you and Papyrus, and see Blake running towards the two of you, in the rain. He is quickly getting wet…

“(Y/n)! Papyrus!” Blake yells, waving his arm, and smiling broadly. “You both made it!”

Your (e/c) eyes widen to the size of dinner plates and look at Papyrus, who glances down at you with a cocky smirk.

‘WHAT?!’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope ya'll enjoyed these first three chapters! I'll post the next chapter next week! (Or if I feel particularly excited)


	4. Movie Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who commented on the last chapter! Here's the next chapter early! ^v^

‘WHAT?!’ You internally scream as you feel your jaw fall open and stare at the orange hoodie wearing skeleton.

“ya alright there, shorty?” Papyrus asks in a slightly mocking tone, only loud enough for you to hear.

“What?” You say and try to take a step away from the skeleton, but he steps closer to you.

“careful, ya might get wet,” he hums and turns towards Blake with a slightly forced smile. “blake, right? it’s nice t’ meet ya. muffet’s told me a skeleTON about you. she says you’re a CHILL guy.”

“Thanks! Everyone is inside! Come on!” Blake says excitedly and rushes back inside of his home. It’s two stories with a basement, and from what you can remember, it has a mini theater and a spare room in the basement. That is where the party will be held.

“He didn’t even notice the puns… how dense can he be…? Those puns were as clear as the rain hitting him in the face,” You chuckle until you feel a hand push you forward slightly, and a deep chuckle fills your ears from above. You glance up at Papyrus as he covers his mouth with his skeletal hand, an orange hue dusting his cheekbones, and his body shook slightly.

“heh, glad you at least caught’em, (y/n),” He says with a smile and nudges you forward again. “we best head in before the rain freezes us down to the bone.”

You couldn’t help yourself as a chuckle shakes your body slightly, “That one was pretty humerus, Papyrus.”

Papyrus chuckles deeply and the two of you make your way up to Blake’s front door. You step inside and watch as Papyrus shakes your umbrella off, closes it, and is about to hand it back to you when you lurch forward and into his chest, eyes wide from the sudden movement and the feeling of a small form slamming into your back.

“BWAH!” You cry out and feel your face smash into a shockingly soft chest with a few hard spots. When you open your eyes, you are met with orange and feel arms wrapped around your waist.

“(Y/N)! WELCOME!” A high pitch, sing song voice calls out, crushing your ribs in a grip of death.

Just as you are about to pull away from Papyrus’ chest, you feel gentle hands on your shoulders, which gently push you away from him. You look up and see that same orange dusting on his cheekbones again, but also a familiar orange smoke coming out of his right socket, but once again, it is gone in the blink of an eye. Your eyes focus on Papyrus’ face, but he simply looks past you and at the being behind you. You follow his gaze and smile softly, despite the sharp pain of your ribs being crushed and the lack of oxygen.

“Lily, you’re… crushing… me…” You gasp out and reach back to smack the younger, golden blonde girl on the head.

“OH!” Lily yelps and immediately releases you, causing you to almost fall, but strong arms hold you up by your shoulders. “I’m so sorry, (Y/n)! I was just so excited to see you!”

“Yeah, yeah,” You laugh and lean away from Papyrus, who still refuses to look at you directly, but you feel like he might be watching you from the corner of his eye socket. You can’t exactly tell, though, considering his doesn’t have eyes. You turn your attention back to the young teen and chuckle. “Hug me like a normal person next time, instead of ramming me into the closest person, wall, or object. It really hurts, for both parties, you know.”

“I know~!” Lily giggles and looks up at Papyrus, who now turns to her and smiles.

“hello,” Papyrus says and removes one of his hands from your shoulder and holds it out to the girl. “the name’s papyrus, and you are?”

“I’m Lily! I’m Blake’s younger sister!” Lily says happily and shakes the skeleton’s hand, but a rather undignified farting sound fills the entry hall.

Laughter from another room roars up and Blake peaks his head out of the living room, his face red and tears peaking in his eyes. “Who f-farted? It was SO loud!” Blake laughs and covers his mouth, his body violently convulsing from trying to hold in his laughter.

“Hehe… Hahaha… AHAHAHAHAHA!” You bust up laughing after a moment of initial shock and end up leaning against your suitcase to stay upright, all while Papyrus’ hand remains on your shoulder. You have to clutch your stomach, trying to calm down your laughing as Lily blushes profusely.

“Wh-what the?!” Lily finally yells and yanks her hand away from Papyrus.

“heh, always funny,” Papyrus says and holds up his hand, exposing the mini whoopee cushion.

Lily huffs and, in mock anger, storms off as Blake, still laughing hysterically, walks over to you and Papyrus and gestures for you two to follow. “The theater is set up and we’re just voting on what movie to start with!” He says.

“Cool,” You say and are about to follow Blake, until you feel your left shoulder be tugged back slightly. You look over and see Papyrus’ hand is still on it from before. Slowly, you lift your eyes up to the skeleton’s face and watch him lean down and pick something up from the ground.

“don’t forget your umbrella,” Papyrus says and hands you your umbrella before he walks around you and goes into the living room, where everyone else is.

After blinking a couple of times and placing the damp umbrella on the hook on your suitcase, you follow soon after, dragging your luggage along. As soon as you step into the room, a pink blur somehow latches onto your side. When you look down at it, you see that it is Mettaton, who is grinning like a madman… madghost?

“What?” You ask and feel your left eyebrow raise.

Before Mettaton can respond, Blake interrupts (not the first time today) and points at you.

“Everyone! This is my best wingwoman, (Y/n)!” Blake says excitedly and wraps his arm around you as the green haired girl runs up. “(Y/n), this is Phoebe,” He says and hugs the girl tightly, who smiles and greets you.

Blake then points to a… spider woman (wuh?) in a bartender-like outfit, with purple skin, and five black eyes (you though spiders had six eyes?). Blake interrupts your analysis and says, “This is Muffet, she owns the bakery on the other side of town, which is also bar at night! I work part-time there.”

Muffet lifts one of her six arms and smiles, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, deary.”

You shake her offered hand quickly and greet her, but Blake pulls you further into the room and towards the other two humans. “You know these two, John and Shaun, twins from next door. They’ve been my friends for forever, even before you moved here for college,” Blake says with a chuckle.

“Nice to see you again, (Y/n),” The two say at the same time, but otherwise ignore you. Nice. They still don’t like you.

“And apparently, you’ve already met Papyrus,” Blake says and gestures at the skeleton, who has already ma himself at home on Blake’s couch. “Which brings up the question: how’d you two meet?”

“Uh, yeah…” You look over to Papyrus and receive nothing but a shrug. With a heavy sigh, you choose to shrug as well, “It just kinda happened.”

“Oh, sure~,” Blake chuckles, but before you can snap at him, he spins around and thrusts his finger into the air. “ALRIGHT! Since we’re all here now, let’s head on downstairs and vote on our first movie!”

“Kay~!” Everyone says in unison and gathers up their things. You merely pick up your suitcase and follow the others down into the basement.

You and Mettaton flee to one side of the room, on the far side of the couch at the center, and set up your little fort using the pillows that are laid out on a mattress Blake has set out. You then lay out your drinks and snacks in front of the fort. You already gave Blake the extra drinks you bought earlier, and he placed them in the minifridge, which sits next to the popcorn machine. Since he’s standing there now, he starts making popcorn. You also handed over (fav movie), which Blake now has laid out next to various others.

From afar, you look at the collection and quirk your brow, trying to read the titles, but then Mettaton speaks up, “The live action Beauty and the Beast was brought by Lily; Blake chose Transformers; John and Shaun chose Big Hero 6; Muffet brought Sherlock Holmes; I brought Nabstablook’s Musical Adventure; Phoebe brought The Princess Bride; and I’m not sure what Papyrus brought.”

“I don’t even think he brought a movie,” You mutter and look around the room, curious to see where everyone is sitting.

Of course, Blake, Phoebe, and Lily are sitting on the floor in front of the couch, which can be pulled out into a bed. The twins chose the mattress on the opposite side of the couch, you swear they hated you from the way they avoid you like the plague. You know they don’t like you, but this is a little much. Muffet is on the couch behind Blake and the girls, leaning against a purple and pink donut shaped pillow. Papyrus is on the other end of the couch, closest to you two, but before he gets comfortable, he lifts up his orange sweater, revealing a pudgy black tank top. Papyrus lifts the tank top, and by then, you and Mettaton have turned completely toward the skeleton as he lifts his shirts.

But it isn’t the sudden stripping of the skeleton that startles you, no… It is the fact that beneath both Papyrus’ sweater and tank top, wedged into his ribs and against his spine, is a pillow.

A freaking pillow.

Papyrus notices you staring at him and looks you right in the eye as he carefully yanks the pillow out, fluffs it, then places on the couch to lean against. All the while, he kept eye contact with you, his smirk growing more and more as you feel your face grow more ridiculous and serious as you focus on his freaking pillow.

Once he is finished, he says with a wink at you, “like what ya see?”

In response, your face turns an even brighter shade of red from when you two first met, but you immediately start to hysterically laugh. You double over, clutching your stomach so hard that it hurts, but you can’t stop laughing! The image of Papyrus pulling a pillow out of his ribs and his comment have to have been the funniest things in the world to you. More laughter reaches your ears, but you can’t determine whose it is.

By the time you finally calm down, everyone is staring at you. Blake is grinning like an idiot, Phoebe looks very confused, Lily is also grinning madly, Muffet is looking between you and Papyrus with a smirk, the twins are glaring daggers into your not bare skull and Papyrus’ very bare skull, and Mettaton is nudging your side with that plotting Cheshire-cat grin of theirs. Finally, the other laughter registers to you as Papyrus’ and you look up at him, tears stinging your eyes from how hard you laughed.

His face is alight with a genuine smile and is glowing from the orange dusting across his cheekbones as he gazes down at you. “you alright there, buddy?” He asks as he fixes his sweater and tank top.

Trembling with the aftershocks of laughter, you sit up and lean against the couch, next to Papyrus’ legs. “I -heh- have to admit that was one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a long time,” You say between giggles and look over to Lily, “But it does explain why your chest was soft when Lily tackled me into your chest earlier.”

Papyrus chuckles deeply and glances over to Muffet but turns his gaze away from her and trains his expression back to that lazy grin. You wonder briefly why he does that, but you turn your eyes back to Blake, noticing he is waving a movie back and forth.

“While you and Papyrus were laughing and *total fake cough* flirting *another fake cough*, the rest of us agreed to watch Big Hero 6 first,” Blake says and stand up, not giving you much of a chance to react to his comment. “I’m gonna dish out the popcorn and put in the movie. Everyone get comfortable!”

You look to the mattress as heat rushes to your ears and cheeks from how hard you laughed earlier and Blake’s flirt comment. A gentle hand settles on your shoulder, causing you to look over and see Mettaton smiling.

“D-Don’t worry, it’s c-cute to see you laughing,” Mettaton says, but quickly goes over to Blake to help him hold the popcorn. Yet another thing you don’t quite understand. How does Mettaton carry things without arms or hands?

‘Magic, that’s how,’ you think with a chuckle and crawl further onto the mattress before curling up with your pillow, leaning your head against the side of the couch.

Once the popcorn is handed out and the movie is put on, you and Mettaton curl up with your respective pillows, happily watching the animated movie.

(le time skip – brought to you by hours of long movies)

After watching five of the movies (Big Hero 6, Transformers, your movie, Sherlock Holmes, and Nabstablook’s Musical Adventure), you only have two movies left. It is now between Beauty and the Beast and the Princess Bride, but everyone only has the energy for one more movie. The twins, Mettaton, Muffet, Phoebe, and (you think) Papyrus all fell asleep, leaving you, Blake, and Lily awake. You suggest just going to sleep, but Lily refuses, saying that she really wants to watch Beauty and the Beast before she falls asleep.

Both you and Blake relent, and he puts the movie in. He does not stay, though, saying that Phoebe has laid claim to the spare room, so he decides to take her into the room. Soon enough, he returns about thirty minutes later, grinning madly. He looks over to the movie and points to the stairs.

“I’m gonna head to bed,” Blake says, goofy grin and all, “G’night.”

“Night~,” You and Lily say in unison, but then turn back to the movie.

More time goes by and the movie is about over when you notice Lily is fast asleep. With an exhausted yawn, you climb off of the bed and walk over to the sleeping 15-year-old.

As you carry Lily upstairs, you hear footsteps following you. Once you are in the living room, you turn and see Muffet smiling at you.

“Helloooo~ dear~,” The spider woman says softly, her elegant voice dancing across your ears. At least, that’s what it felt like to you.

“Oh, uh, hi?” You reply, surprised by her presence. “Hope I’m not rude, but I thought you were asleep?”

“Oh, I was, but I had set a silent alarm on my phone to wake me up,” Muffet explains and walks over to you and Lily. “I have to open shop tomorrow, so I needed to leave soon, and since I saw you coming up here, I figured I might as well say bye-bye to someone~.”

You nod and smile warmly at the spider, “Well, it is great to meet you, Muffet. Mettaton has actually told me about your bar. They said I need to stop by it some time with them.”

“And you should, deary~,” Muffet hums and carefully places a piece of paper in your hand. “This is a coupon for first-time customers. I look forward to seeing you there. Toot-a-loo~!” She says and quietly leaves the house.

You turn back to the younger girl in your arms and sigh, “Best get you back to your room, Lily.”

Carefully, you hoist the girl to her room and into her bed. After tucking her in, you head back down to the basement.

The sight that meets you is perfect, and that should be taken with a hint of sarcasm. First off, John apparently kicked Shaun off of the bed, leaving Shaun to be dead asleep with his face smashed against the dusty carpet, which you totally took a picture of it with your phone. Secondly, Mettaton somehow has taken up the entire mattress you and they are supposed to be sharing.

And because of that, you are left with one option: the now opened couch bed, next to Papyrus.

. . .

Wait.

When was that opened? Maybe Papyrus woke up to say goodbye to Muffet, too? Or to turn off the TV since it’s now off as well?

With a silent hum, you turn back to your pink friend and see them hugging your pillow desperately, a goofy grin plastered to their see-through face.

“Shit…” You whisper and glance back to the bed. You don’t have a pillow, but at least you can sleep somewhat comfortably. As such, you go to the spare bedroom’s bathroom and get changed into pajamas (which you had packed, because you knew you were certainly staying the night) and walk back over to the couch-bed.

While you were preparing for bed, Papyrus had moved so that his back is facing where you will be laying down. That is fine with you, it’ll be less awkward that way. Carefully, you climb onto the creaky mattress, only causing Papyrus to stir once. As soon as you are situated, you roll onto your side, now back-to-back with Papyrus.

‘This is fine…’ You think with a gentle yawn and soon enough, darkness consumes your vision, unaware of the empty eye sockets watching you.


	5. You Like to Cuddle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! New week! New Chapter! Sorry for it being short, but I hope you all enjoy! Let me know your thoughts!

What…  
In…  
STARLIGHTS NAME ARE YOU DOING?!

It feels like your face is on fire, and it might as well be from the orange clouding your vision!

Using him as a pillow is one thing!

BUT HIM WRAPPING HIS ARMS AROUND YOU AND YOU HUGGING HIM BACK IS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT!

As you lay, resting your head on Papyrus’ (somehow) soft chest, you think back to the events of last night and how you might have ended up in this predicament. First, you watched five movies with everyone until most of them fell asleep, then Blake took Phoebe to bed and headed off to bed himself. Next, you took Lily to bed after talking with Muffet briefly. The last thing you remember is getting ready for bed and then falling asleep with your back to the skeleton you are currently using at a pillow.

Alright, so none of that answered how you ended up laying almost on top of Papyrus, but it did answer why you are in the bed with him.

Suddenly, a memory smashes right into the side of your head, reminding you of a time you had slept over at a friend’s house when you were much younger. You woke up crushing your poor friend half to death, which was when you learned that you REALLY like to cuddle in your sleep.

That’s just great…

Again, now you know why you’re cuddling Papyrus, but why is he cuddling you back?

Before you can even think of trying to escape this embarrassing situation (face is still burning red), you feel the body beneath your head stir slightly.

In fear, you slowly lift your head up to see a half-opened eye socket staring down at you. Even more heat rushes to your face and your hands instinctively latch onto the monster’s orange hoodie. Before you can panic further, you feel a gentle hand rubbing circles into your back as a soft, genuine smile crosses Papyrus’ teeth.

“ ‘morning,” Papyrus slurs, his voice deep and laced with exhaustion.

He isn’t fully awake, that much is certain.

“G-good mor-morning…” You mutter, praying to whatever (god or gods or stars) that is out there, that Papyrus will NOT remember this and no one else will see it.

Papyrus hums gently and tightens his grip around your shoulders and waist, bringing you closer to his body. He then rests his skull on your forehead, his black sockets staring into your eyes. “slept well?” He slurs once more.

“Y-yeah…” You hiss out and carefully begin to untangle yourself from the tired pile of bones. “Y-you?”

Stars, you are a stuttering mess right now, and all because of this.

“mmmm, slept grea’,” Papyrus answers, taking advantage of your struggling and moves his head from yours and onto your shoulder.

‘WHY IS HE SO CUDDLY?! AND WHY IS IT CUTE?!’ You scream internally and carefully push away from Papyrus’ chest, feeling his ribs press against your fingers and palms.

“P-paps…” ‘what the heck’s with the nickname?’ “C-could you perhaps let me g-go?” You ask and struggle to move his head from your shoulder.

“not… yet… too tired…” Papyrus responds and nuzzles into your shoulder more, to your utmost dismay.

Just as you are about to plead with the half-awake skeleton monster again, soft snores fill your ears. With a heavy groan, you lower you head onto Papyrus’s shoulder, next to his head, and start wiggling downward and out of the grasp of the lazy bones. Just as you are about to make your escape, a hand latches onto your left wrist and yanks you upward again, but this time, you end up beneath the skeleton.

“ ‘m too tired… stay still…” Papyrus nearly growls as his black, void-like, sockets glare down at you.

Instinctively, you grab the front of his hoodie with your right hand, shaking. Papyrus gently takes that hand and lowers himself to be laying on top of you, but he does not release your left hand, holding it tightly to prevent you from escaping. What you don’t notice until later is that he intertwined your right hands as he held your left wrist.

‘There goes my only chance of escape…’ You think and turn your head slightly, catching the red glow of the wall clock. ‘5:32 AM? It’s still so freaking early! No wonder he’s so cranky and tired!’

You turn back to the skeleton to see him staring at you. Your face immediately heats up again and you wiggle your hands to try and pull away, but fail when he does not budge. Instead, the two of you kept eye contact until you break it, not sure if Papyrus is actually awake or not.

“sorry…”

It was barely audible, but you still manage to hear it. Snapping your attention back to the skeleton, you see his face bright orange with sockets wide, but the moment you blink, the extra weight on top of you disappears as if nothing was there to begin with, though the warmth remains. With a slow, hard blink, you stare at the spot where Papyrus was. Slowly, you sit up in shock and look around the room.

No sign of the orange wearing skeleton.

He’s gone, vanished. Almost as if he… teleported? Is that even possible? Even for monsters, that kind of thing seemed… a bit iffy. And Mettaton never said anything about that kind of ability.

With the wave of confusion, a new wave of exhaustion fills your body and you collapse back onto the bed and into the pillow Papyrus left behind.

‘He left his pillow… Blake said he’s a friend of Muffet’s, perhaps I can give it to her to give to him…’ You think as sleep consumes your mind once again. This time, though, you are surrounded by the lingering scent of Papyrus and the warmth of his arms and body around you.

‘Hmmm… smells like honey and cigarettes…’


End file.
